Health-care unions say new whistleblower protections won’t create the conditions for staff to speak freely about British Columbia’s fractured health-care system.
On June 1 B.C. health-care workers gained coverage under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, which is designed to protect whistleblowers who come forward with concerns about serious wrongdoing.
This now includes people working at health authorities, Providence Health Care and BC Emergency Health Services. The protections cover nurses and doctors working in hospitals and paramedics, but not long-term care workers.
The legislation means health-care workers who report wrongdoing internally have new protections against termination and reprimand.
But observers say it is unlikely to affect workers’ ability to communicate those problems directly to the public, either independently or through the news media.
Health Minister Adrian Dix’s announcement about the new whistleblower protections, in the works for years, came after a string of damaging leaks from health-care workers at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Doctors and other staff have spoken anonymously and publicly to news media about staggeringly long emergency room wait times and struggling care wards. The hospital’s obstetrics and gynecology unit even said those delays led to the death of a newborn in 2020.
Many workers who spoke to outlets like CBC about these issues did so anonymously, saying they feared professional consequences for calling attention to those...
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